The relinquished Anadarko leases formed a long east-west fairway in the extreme south of the Foothills region, a long way south of the Umiat-Gubik area where Anadarko has been drilling in recent years to evaluate some known natural gas resources.

The Eni leases lie on and around the Maggiore prospect, so that the relinquishments presumably flag a decision not to pursue any further exploratory drilling in that prospect.

The FEX leases are in a prospective area of the nearshore Beaufort Sea, adjacent to a part of northeastern NPR-A that is not currently available for oil and gas leasing.

NPR-A sale draws 1 bidder for 5 tracts

The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management had one taker at its 2010 National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska oil and gas lease sale.

Bids were opened this morning in Anchorage, with ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc. the only bidder, offering $799,995 for five tracts.

The company appeared to be filling in around existing acreage and prospects.

One tract, west of Nuiqsut and on the eastern edge of the ConocoPhillips-operated Moose’s Tooth unit, is a tract that ConocoPhillips previously held in partnership with Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (78 percent ConocoPhillips, 22 percent Anadarko).

Two adjacent tracts, on the southwestern edge of the Moose’s Tooth unit, were previously held by a partnership of ConocoPhillips (50 percent), Anadarko (30 percent) and Pioneer Natural Resources Alaska (20 percent).

The other two tracts are adjacent south of the unit.

The tracts range in size from 5,583 acres to 5,760 acres. ConocoPhillips paid an average of $28.13 per acre for the tracts, with tract bids ranging from $178,930 ($31.86 per acre) for tract H42 west of Nuiqsut, to $144,100 ($25.81 per acre) for tract H14 south of Moose’s Tooth.

Copyrighted oil and gas lease maps from Mapmakers Alaska were a research tool used in preparing these stories.

See stories in Aug. 15 issue, available to subscribers online at noon, Friday, Aug. 13, at www.PetroleumNews.com